June 04, 2007

The Central Committee of the YCL-ljc joins the many voices calling forthe boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) of Israel as an apartheidstate, in response to the call for BDS from the Palestinian GeneralFederation of Trade Unions. We urge that all YCL-ljc clubs work withthe Palestinian solidarity movement and labour movement on the BDScampaign.

In this spirit, on June 9th the YCL-ljc encourages all youth andstudents concerned with democracy and human rights to take part in theday of action pickets at their local Chapters/Indigo stores. Protestthe owners' ties to the Heseg Foundation, which supports Israelisoldiers recruited from Canada and outside Israel and is complicit inthe apartheid system in occupied Palestine.

Protests called this weekend by the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the Waragainst the visit of Colin Powell to Canada, at the behest of theJewish National Fund, sends an important message rejecting the US waragenda in Canada. Youth, students, and all peace and democracy-lovingpeople should support this protest, and call for Powell's arrest forcrimes against humanity.

The war banner Powell's gang in suits carries is saluted by the HarperConservatives in Canada. For youth, the stakes are high. Withcutbacks, privatization and massive military spending going toCanada's dirty war in Afghanistan, they are replacing the chance ofgood jobs and accessible education with military recruitment, racism,and boot camps. It is time to demand a life with a future!

POWELL - ENEMY OF DEMOCRACY, AGENT OF IMPERIALISM

Colin Powell has hard-earned reputation as a spokesperson forimperialism and enemy of democracy and sovereignty. For his role inorchestrating many crimes against humanity Powell should be arrestedand brought to justice.

Perhaps the most infamous act of the former US Secretary of State washis justification of the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. Powell'stestimony (contradicting earlier statements he himself had said) aboutthe presence of Weapon's of Mass Destruction in Iraq played animportant role in camouflaging the true reasons for the war – oilprofits and the strategic location of Iraq.

Today, that illegal war and occupation has killed over six hundred ofthousand Iraqi civilians. This monstrous crime shows the danger USimperialism posses to humanity. Recently, Powell has stated that Iranalso possesses Weapon's of Mass Destruction, in a move widelydenounced by progressive people as potentially justifying another war.

Powell helped organized the illegal coup of democratically electedPresident Aristide from Haiti. ''[W]hether or not he is able toeffectively continue as president is something that he will have toexamine," Powell told the international media three days before aCIA-organized raid kidnapped Aristide and flew him secretly to theCongo. Since then, massive bloodshed has resulted from the murderousactions of US, Canadian and French police forces in Haiti.

Powell also serves on several corporate boards including GulfstreamAerospace and America Online (which later merged with Time Warner).The former general earned a $4 million windfall when AOL merged withTime Warner in 2001. Powell's son, Michael, was the only commissionerat the Federal Communications Commission who advocated letting theAOL-Time Warner deal go through without scrutiny. Perhaps this iswhat Powell means when he talks about bringing "Free-marketDemocracy'' to Iraq.

WHO INVITED WAR CRIMINAL POWELL?

Powell was invited to this thousand-dollar plate dinner by the JewishNational Fund, supposedly to raise money to restore a forest inIsrael. This at exactly the time when a growing movement across Canadais condemning that country, and the JNF. Last year Ontario's biggestunion, Canadian Union of Public Employees - Ontario, resolved toboycott, divestfrom, and sanction Israel (bds) until it recognizes the Palestiniansright to self-determination and complies with international law,including the right of refugees to return.

The Jewish National Fund, which is able to give tax-deductiblereceipts to Canadian donors (meaning that all tax-payers are in effectsubsidizing Israeli apartheid), does charitable work like constructing"Canada Park." It is a travesty that this park, built over the ruinsof three Arab villages (Amwas, Yalu, and Beit Nuba) from which theresidents were forcibly expelled during the 1967 war, is named afterour country, which implicitly condones the shameful expulsion of FirstNations, Metis and Acadian nations in Canada.

The State of Israel reserves 93% of all property inside the green linefor Jews only. In apartheid South Africa, 87% of all property wasreserved in law for whites only. The infant mortality rate inPalestinian areas is almost 5 times that of Jewish areas. Israel'sruling party Kadima has openly stated that the strategy of withdrawingfrom Gaza and building a wall in the West Bank, cutting offPalestinians from each other, is to maintain a Jewish majority inIsrael, originally achieved by expelling and terrorizing Palestinians.

It is no co-incidence that Powell is speaking on the behest of theJNF. US-Israeli policy in the Middle East is to repress the Arabnational liberation movement, which nationalized the Suez Canal andkicked British colonialists out of South Yemen, establishing the firstArab communist state. The face of George W. Bush and Colin Powell inCanada is that of PM Steven Harper and General Rick Hillier.

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE, AND WE NEED TO FIGHT FOR IT!

This nightmare must not continue forever. Instead of towing the lineof the Bush Republicans war agenda, Canada must assert our ownindependent foreign policy, based on peace and disarmament.

We must defeat the Harper Conservatives, who have extended the mandateof the Afghanistan mission to 2009 and have launched a sophisticatedpublic relations blitz to try to twist around public opinion on thisunpopular war. Calling to bring the troops home is critical in thatstruggle, to confront and drive out Harper. The fight outsideparliament will be decisive, and will lead the battle which must occurin the House to dump the Conservatives.

Ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and preventing newimperialist aggressions against Iran, Sudan, or any other country, arethe key tasks of the day. To win a better world, to achieve socialjustice and environmental sustainability, humanity needs peace anddisarmament.

The main source of danger and global injustice is not terrorism, asPowells' crew claims, but US imperialism. The YCL (Ontario) thereforejoins with the Communist Party of Canada in calling for an independentforeign policy of peace and disarmament for Canada, based on thefollowing alternative policies:

- Withdraw immediately Canadian and all NATO forces from Afghanistan- End the occupation of Iraq; prosecute those responsible for theinvasion of Iraq as war criminals- No imperialist aggression against Iran! Seek a peaceful, negotiated solution- Respect the United Nations' Charter and international laws thatuphold state sovereignty and national self-determination- Oppose "preventive" war, the "first use" of nuclear weapons andother imperialist military doctrines- Reject attacks on civil and democratic rights carried out under theracist and imperialist "war on terror"- End Canada's boycott of the elected Palestinian Authority; dismantleIsrael's illegal wall built in occupied territories; support aPalestinian state and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees,consistent with U.N. resolutions- Oppose the sanctions against Cuba; free "The Cuban Five" jailed inthe U.S. for fighting terrorism- Withdraw all occupying forces from Haiti- Oppose the dangerous U.S. Missile Defence program- Abolish all weapons of mass destruction and negotiate globaldisarmament treaties- Ban the international arms trade; ban arms sales to regimesresponsible for genocide and crimes against peace- Welcome war resisters to Canada and allow them to stay permanently- Withdraw Canada from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; supportdismantling all military alliances- Abrogate "free trade" deals which undermine Canada's sovereignty,close factories, and fail to protect Canada from unjust sanctions- Promote trade relations between Canada and all countries on thebasis of equality, sustainability and mutual social benefit; cancelthe debt of Third World countries; increase unconditional aid byimperialist countries as compensation for centuries of slavery,colonial oppression and exploitation.- Support the right of self-determination for all nations which noware denied that right, including in Canada; promote equal andvoluntary relations between nations deciding to remain in the samestate

The Central Committee of the Young Communist League of Canada met foran all-day meeting on this past month to discuss the league's mainpolitical priorities and campaign strategies around the issues ofpeace, jobs, and international solidarity. Over the next few months,the YCL-LJC will be unveiling new central campaigns of the YCL-LJC.

As directed by the central convention, work has begun on a CubanSolidarity campaign including applying to join the Canadian Network onCuba and helping to build the Che Guevara Work Brigade which takesplace in July. Additionally, the YCL-LJC will be expanding the YCLBritish Columbia's Better Work, Better Wages campaign to a Canada-widelevel, beginning with a fight to increase the minimum wage.

The CC approved the Convention Documents from the 24th YCL CentralConvention, which are currently being formatted and will be releasedto membership. Acting on instructions from the Central Convention, theCC voted in favour of dropping the maple leaf from the YCL-LJC logoout of respect to the multi-national character of the Canadian state.The logo will feature a fist, holding a red flag in a white circle.

The CC heard reports on the student movement, including the results ofthe Canada-wide demonstrations by students for reduced tuition fees.This included an important victory by Nova Scotian students, who facethe highest tuition fees in the country and have won a freeze oftuition fees. Quebec students are mobilizing for a largedemonstration, calling for the elimination of tuition fees, inSeptember. The CC also recognized concern over recent racist andIslamophobic actions at McMaster University, which garnered a quickresponse from students denouncing the incident.

Jason Mann, a member of the CC, was elected to the position of RebelYouth editor. He reported that a new issue of Rebel Youth will bereleased in June, with a focus on International Solidarity.

The CC passed statements in solidarity with the Boycott, Divestmentand Sanctions campaign against the Apartheid State of Israel, and withthe BC and Ontario campaigns to raise the Minimum wage to $10 an hour.

In Vancouver and Toronto the YCL recently helped organize twosuccessful protests demanding the extradition of US CIA-backedcounter-revolutionary and self-described terrorist Posada Carriles toVenezuela. The YCL also distributed hundreds of flyers in places likeSudbury and Niagara Falls about this issue and the case of the CubanFive.

The YCL-LJC's membership is also growing rapidly! In the Prairies, twomembers of the YCL in Manitoba ran in the provincial elections for theCommunist Party. There has been recent YCL activity in Saskatchewanand the CC hopes to build in this area. New clubs have recently beenbuilt in Edmonton and Nanaimo. Plans are underway across the countryto organize regional Summer schools for YCL members.

The CC also heard a report on the recent visit of Comrade ShonaBracken to Venezuela, and a report from Stephen Von Sychowski oninternational correspondence.

SEE A REVOLUTION IN MOTION

Past YCL Statements

Join the struggle!

The Young Communist League of Canada is a marxist-leninist organization of youth who struggle for socialism and work to build a strong youth and student movement.

We are a multi-ethnic organization of young workers, employed and unemployed, young women and men. We work in movements for peace and democracy and against racism, sexism homophobia, national oppression and destruction of our environment.

We work in our unions and workplaces for better wages, and in our high schools for democratic and equal education, our colleges, universities and trade schools for accesibility. We bring forth these viewpoints through our League's agitational magazine, Rebel Youth.

We work together for a Canada without exploitation where the workers hold all political, social and economic power. We recognize that since youth are the future, we must play a vital role in fighting for socialism.